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One person died and another injured in an incident at an underground deep ore (DOZ) mining zone belonging to gold and copper mining company PT Freeport Indonesia (PT FI), on Sunday.

A Toyota pickup vehicle was hit by falling materials from the DOZ's 1E North point at around 4 a.m. local time, on Sunday.

The truck driver, Fikrizal Utama, 27, was killed while his passenger and fellow employee, Peman Gombo, escaped with injuries.

Papua Police spokesperson Adj.Sr.Comr. Pudjo Sulistio said the police were coordinating with the PT FI management to investigate the incident. The police also facilitated a speedy repatriation of the victim's body to his hometown in Palembang, South Sumatra.

'The police flew to Palembang to get an official refusal from the victims family for an autopsy,' said Pudjo.

Meanwhile, PT FI vice president corporate communication, Daisy Primayanti, said in an official release that the company's command center received a report at 4:09 a.m. local time on Sunday, saying that an incident had occurred in the loading and uploading area at the DOZ underground mining.

'PT FI rescue team and workers were immediately dispatched to the incident site and managed to evacuate two victims. One person was later pronounced dead while another worker received medical treatment at Tembagapura Hospital,' Daisy said.

She said PT FI had reported the incident to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry. (ebf)